SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
When Built-In Antifreeze Beats a Winter Coat
from the New York Times (Registration Required)
As the mercury plunges to its annual lows, those of us at higher latitudes retreat to cozy shelters. We might sympathize with the birds and the squirrels that endure the subfreezing cold outside and fill some feeders, but we don't give any thought to smaller, less appealing creatures--the insects and spiders, for instance, that inhabited the backyard or woods in the summer.
They will re-emerge in the spring, so somehow they must make it through the bitter cold. How do these animals survive the deep freeze without the benefit of fur or feathers?
The threat to life at low temperatures is not really cold, but ice. With cells and bodies composed mostly of water, ice is potentially lethal because its formation disrupts the balance between the fluids outside and inside of cells, which leads to their shrinkage and irreversible damage to tissues. Insects have therefore evolved all sorts of ways to avoid freezing.
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